Boing Boing: U. Florida cops ask fiction writer for fingerprints, DNA — This was bound to eventually happen after we began to see HS students suspended and investigated for doodling a skull and crossbones or writing, “I hate school.”
U. Florida cops ask fiction writer for fingerprints, DNA
The university police at Gainesville’s University of Florida have targeted a graduate student in the English program over his publication of a piece of horror fiction on his LiveJournal. The police have repeatedly visited the student and demanded that he submit his fingerprints and DNA to them so that they can compare the fictional murder he described in his story to evidence from any similar unsolved murders.Philip Sandifer is a graduate student in U. Fla’s English program, freelancing creative writing jobs, and keeps a personal creative writing journal called “Pulp Decameron,” where he posts very short stories in the styles of various pulp genres. The stories are released under a Creative Commons license. One story, I am Ready to Serve My Country, is a first-person account of a murderer who executes two victims before applying to the military.
On May 12, detective Sanders of the University of Florida police left him a voicemail asking him to contact her. This began a series of meetings and calls with the University Police in which detectives repeatedly pressured him to allow them to fingerprint him, so that they could compare his prints to evidence from unsolved murders. They cited his publication of the horror fiction as the reason.
I’m sorry, but is this still America we live in? I’m not sure anymore.
These are rent-a-cops. I would tell them to go blow themselves. Or better yet, write a fiction story that has a student getting harassed by these rent-a-cops and him beating University of Florida “police” officers with a baseball bat, then getting a signing bonus for joining the New York Yankees as their new home-run slugger….only to have his past catch up with him when one of the “police” officers starts stalking him, posing as a fan.
Actually, I see this as a novel. Perhaps even a trilogy.
Now that is great writing!
My oldest brother was (he’s deceased) a habitual liar. He would lie when the truth would serve him just as well. Whenever he told me a “fact,” I would politely listen, but withhold judgement until the “fact” could be corroborated by another source. This story triggered the same response mechanism as if it came from the lips of my dear brother.
It isn’t hard to picture campus police acting in the manner described. But it’s more likely that the entire story is a fabrication.
You can read the actual Live Journal entry from a link in the Boing Boing article. It was written 2 years a go! It seems university police were following up on a tip from a “journalist in the UK”.
Most are responding as if the UP are browsing therough LIve Journal looking to make busts, when they are actually following up a tip.
The whole thing is ridiculous, even more so after reading the journal entry.
Dont we have due process? Dont you have to be charged to be ‘processed’? Or have the ‘terrorists’ reduced us to the ‘automatic guilt’ state. What the hell happened to ‘rights’?
How hard would it be to get fingerprints by follwoing him around? If he’s in a dorm, you can probablky get another student to get the stuff for you.
#8, no,
Due process refers to the right to a fair trial, a jury trial, an attorney, and the right to fair bail. It does not refer to the Police asking to talk to someone. Usually, unless you are under arrest, you do not have to speak with a Policeman if you do not wish to. You might just end up under arrest if you refuse, but you don’t need to. Even then, if you state you want to speak with a lawyer they do have to stop the interrogation and may not use any information they gleaned after that. Only if you are arrested can the police take your prints and DNA (in most jurisdictions). Otherwise they need either your explicit permission or a warrant.
If the Police continue to harass him, then the student could always get a restraining order prohibiting the Police from contacting him without a court order.
Actually the term rent-a-cop is outdated and no longer warrented. Today these individuals are known as security officers and have a lot more pull then one might think…did you know assault on a security officer is a felony…same as hitting a cop. Think before you speak.
Actually, they’re police officers, agents of the Board of Regents of the University of Florida. State University = State Police. There are a lot of state police forces in Florida that nobody would ever think were police. (Florida Department of Environmental Protection, anyone?)
As far as battery on a security officer, it only applies to those who are licensed by the state, and possess a “D” license. Its not really the “same” as hitting a cop, its just a long list of people (EMTs, Doctors, Hospital Staff, Security Staff, Transit Agents, Police, Firemen) who “unlawfully touching” creates an instant felony.
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